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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  December 17, 2012 8:00am-10:00am PST

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as we all so fervently do. bill: you think about the teachers and everyone else. really this is a day, the investigation is going to go forward. in one hour as you mentioned, martha we'll hear from lieutenant advance ye va nce yet again and see what information they are uncovering. for today the focus needs to be on the victims and their families and rightfully so when we see the first of many funerals begin here in about two hours. we will be watching that. we'll have coverage throughout the day here and let our viewers know, in the most respectful way we possibly can, what is happening and what they need to know about newtown. we'll see you later, everybody. "happening now" continues our coverage now. jon: we continue with brand-new stories and even breaking news. jenna: police vowing to examine every single bullet found at scene at the massacre at sandy hook elementary school.
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no better understanding of what caused the killer to commit this crime. a live update an hour from now. we'll take you there. a horrible seen in kansas, two police officers shot, both of them killed in a dramatic standoff with the suspect. the very latest on that. also we are set to get details from an independent report on the terrorist attack in libya, four americans murdered at the u.s. consulate there, so many questions still about security and the administration's handling of the aftermath. those stories and breaking news as we get it all "happening now." jon: as we begin on this monday there are new developments to tell you about in the aftermath of the connecticut school massacre. good morning i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna leave. the country as bill and martha were just talking about struggling to come to grips with the deadliest shooting every at an elementary school in the united states, holding vigils and memorials for the 2* the 26
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lives cut way too short. the number dead is 27. a funeral for two of the victims of the massacre, noah posner and jack pinto. noah's twin sister survived the attack. the president spoke at an interest tere faith service in newtown. >> it was something you never really see, all the joint faiths coming together and sharing as one. i thought it was remarkable. >> i don't even live in this town, but i just wanted to give my support to the families, and i have little ones of my own, and i wanted -- i feel their grief. >> in a time of crisis like this we are one, we are one nation. jon: meantime investigators are trying to figure out what triggered adam lanza's deadly rampage. police say the 20-year-old killed his mother and took off
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with her guns heading to sandy hook elementary school with you've ammo to takeout about every student in there. >> he shot his way into the school. the school was locked. he used a weapon to open up the glass and then -- >> he blasted right through it, right? >> with several -- a number of rounds. he discharged to make an opening and then went through it, went to the first classroom, as you know, went to the second classroom. we surmise that it was during the second classroom episode that he heard responders coming and apparently at that decided to take his own life. jon: well three days after this carnage began the classes are canceled at sandy hook elementary school. there are now questions about whether the school will ever reopen its doors to the education of children. rick leventhal live in connecticut. therthere was a briefing.
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>> reporter: police told us they were tolding two crime scenes indefinitely. that includes the home where nancy lanza lived with her son adam, where she died after he shot her multiple times in the head. sandy hook elementary school also a crime scene as investigators poured throughout area where he went on his murderer rust rampage killing six adults and 20 children. investigators are going through computer records, phone records and other electronics serb -fpg for clues and a possible motive and they are interviews every single witness to friday's shooting and that includes the children who survived. i asked the police spokesman, lieutenant paul vance about that earlier. >> i don't want to give the details, it's a very, very, very tender, tender issue. i can tell you that any interviews with any children will be done with professionals, with parents and with investigators as appropriate. the investigators will determine how, when, where and why we'll
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do this. again understanding we will handle that extremely delicately. >> reporter: obviously a very difficult situation and more evidence that people are on edge here. there's been another situation in the ridgefield school district about 30 minutes away. schools there on lockdown after a woman reported seeing a man with a rifle at a nearby train station. no word on whether they found that man, but obviously, jon, police taking every precaution. jon: and the gunman at sandy hook, so many questions about the motivation and the background. what are we learning about him. we've ever learned a lot more as adam lanza who has been described as a near genius who had developmental issues. he is believed to have been suffering from asburger's syndrome, a form of autism. he went to sandy hook for a short time as a child, was withdrawn and home schooled. he went to western connecticut state university when he was just 16 years old and took some college courses there.
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he dropped out of a couple, he finance eurpb finished a couple of others, his grade point average was 3.26, he never graduated from there. we saw divorce papers between his parents. the mother was authorized to make decisions on his upbringing and we have learned as well that the mother owned the weapons that adam brought to the school including that bushmaster 223ar15. it's a civilian version of the military m16 rifle described as the most popular rifle in america. he was also carrying two handguns and used one of them to kill himself as police closed in. jon, as you mentioned classes at sandy hook, of course the newtown school district have been canceled today. sandy hook will be closed indefinitely. the students who survived the shooting will go back to school but somewhere else. we are hearing today that sandy hook may never reopen. they are not sure what to do with that facility. jon: so many tough decisions still to be made down the road. rick leventhal in newtown.
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thank you. jenna: we know so many of you in your own communities are discussing this terrible event, and across the country in arizona those who survived the mass shooting at gabrielle giffords' in tucson two years ago came together yesterday to pray for the newtown victims. congressman ron barber who worked forgive fords and was injured that day led the candlelight vigil. he was joined by his young grandchildren on stage. they are the same age as the children who lost their lives in connecticut. congresswoman giffords was holding an event in that safe way parking lot where a lone gunman shot her, sprayed the parking lot with bullets and killed six people, including a little girl. congresswoman giffords survived and continues to make progress. the killer was initially declared incompetent to stand trial. in august he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. jon: the national football league also pausing to remember the school shooting victims. the new york giants played their game in atlanta with heavy
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hearts wearing the initials shes for sandy hook elementary school on their hell phepbts. giants wide receiver victor cruise wearing the name of one of the victims 6-year-old jack pinto on his gloves and shoes. cruise was jack's favorite player. cruise said after the game he hopes to visit jack's family some time this week. >> i spoke to the family. i also spoke to the older brothers, and he was distraught as well. i told them to stay strong and i will do whatever i can. jon: jack pinto one of the two funerals to be held today. meantime in new england the pie tree ats honoring the victims with 26 white flares shot into the sky over the stadium during a moment of silence. the team also pledging $25,000 to the victims' families. jenna: with a heavy heart so many of you parents are sending your kids off to school today. friday's violence forcing so much us, including parents and ed indicators to confront what we can do if anything to make
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schools safer and more secure. chief washington correspondent james rosen is taking a closer look at this for us today. >> reporter: across the country educators and add minimum straeurts are strivin administrators, are trying to tell parents their schools are safe. measures being adopted this morning extend across the public and private school continuum with school psychologists and counselors bracing for questions and guidance sessions. security officers are talking with local police and procedures for safety drills are being revisited. one concurrent theme is that teaches, principals and other authority figures seem reluctant to raise newton with students of their own. a message went oupbt in florida quote, please know that school staff members will be available to speak to individual students should any of them need anyone to talk to. we will not be bringing up this latest tragedy in our classrooms or conversations, but we will be
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there for our students to listen if they have concerns about safety at our school, unquote. here is a similar message that i received last night from my son's principal here in the washington d.c. area, quote, our approach will be to address it as it comes up organically with students. some of the children will have heard and/or seen details of this event on tv while others may have been shielded from the majority of the information. i do not want adult initiated conversations to impress more on the children than parents desire. underlying such decisions is an averagement t acknowledgment to the older kids. they are likely to have heard about newtown on their own. they say if they ask about the massacre keep your answers short and simple and impress upon hem that they and their schools are safplt. jenna are safe. jon: in connecticut police are pouring over every piece of evidence they can find in newtown, including the gunman's
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computer. what they hope to find that could shed light on a possible motive. plus an explosion targeting american personnel in afghanistan. the very latest on what happened there. that is coming up .
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jon: a powerful cyclone rips thraoup the south pacific flooding parts of fiji today killing at least four people in the small state of samoa. up to a dozen people there are reported missing. and the pregnant dutchess of cambridge making her first public appearance since being hospitalized foray cute morning sickness and dehydration. kate middleton presenting awards at a uk sports ceremony in london. jenna: back to our top story now the kopbd connecticut school massacre. as we await the funerals of two young people killed in that rampage investigators are pouring overcome pursuiters trying to figure out how adam lanza planned his spree.
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where do you start the investigation? >> first need to please acknowledge the families and slims. my deepest sympathies. so our digital lives are a window into our minds. and by discovering a person's digital life you essentially can map out their life's past and future intentions, and the point of a digital discovery essentially is to find out what happened, and essentially how to prevent this in the future as well. jenna: so where do you start with the material that you might have in a typical case? >> easily, very simply as you would with your own device, from the desktop in you scar the hard drive looking through all different document folders, looking at all the different files and folders, the names of them, the different documents within, and then going through web histories, web history can
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determine what web sites they visited. also by looking at any forensics in regards to chat logs, any communications that there might be with others. jenna: how far back can you go, robert when you talked about some of those histories that you can look through, for someone that is 20 20 years old, for example, we understand that there is some evidence at the mother's house but authorities have been very tightlipped about it. how far back would any device, a typical device in a family's home provide you? years? are we talking months, weeks? what kind of timeline. >> great question. think of your own digital devices, for example within my own home and office i have device as old as ten to 12 years old and all of those hold history of web traffic, and email communications, and you can go back as long as the device is old. and if there has been any transfer of data from an even older device then all that
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history remains. jenna: interesting. >> and then if the person was proficient at clearing their history, then there is less information that can be found, but, again, depending on the operating system, in different partitions that might be set up a lot of data can be discovered with the right technology. jenna: the authorities again have been very tightlipped about the evidence that they have. we have initial reports, and again, we don't know if these reports are real or not, that the murderer might have destroyed some of the computer. the initial reports said a hard dry. again, we don't know if this is true. if that's the case, the scenario you're dealing with, does that limit you in anyway? >> it certainly does. and the ability of the offender to essentially destroy that device versus the ability of say a forensics expert to discover it may vary. a good forensics expert with the right technology can get delet
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deleted or even destroyed data, again, it's a county and mous a cat and mouse game. based on what they are already finding and what they will find they'll be able to determine whether or not this individual had conspired with others, and they will more than likely find what his trigger point might have been in order to basically device this plan and why. jenna: at the news conference on saturday the officials seemed hopeful about the evidence that they found at the mother's house. we'll wait to see exactly what that produces and what answers, maybe, maybe it provides in a case like this. robert, great to see you. thank you for your expertise today. >> thank you. jon: we are getting brand-new details on the deadly attack on our consulate in libya that killed our ambassador and three other men. a new independent report is due out. what it could tell us as the state department prepares to testify before congress about what happened there.
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plus, our coverage continues on the tragedy in connecticut. coming up the massacre reopen the debate about what to do about mental illness in this country.
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jon: right now we are awaiting details of an independent report on the deadly assault on our consulate in libya. that report looks into what led up to the attack on september 11th. it is expected to be turned over to state department officials today. as you know four americans were killed in our consulate when it came under fire in benghazi, including our ambassador to libya, chris stevens. secretary of state hillary clinton created the independent review board, however, she will not be able to testify at the benghazi hearings later this week because of a concussion. let's talk about it all with steven yates a former deputy
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assistant for the vice president for national security affairs during the bush administration. steven, thank you for being with us today. >> glad to be with you, jon. jon: this independent advisory review board was appointed by the state department. does that mean it's controlled by the state department or does it live up to it's title of independence in. >> it's independent in the sense that it doesn't come within the bureaucracy. it will be former officials that guide the effort. it will be informed very much by sources within the bureaucracy itself. i think it's part of an effort to focus more on lower-level bureaucrat particular decisions and operational decisions and away from political and policy decision has fed into the controversy. jon: do you expect whatever is in the report is going to end the controversy over benghazi? i doubt very much it will end the controverts see. it may advance the conversation. there is still a lot of questions about why the security posture was where it was in benghazi on that fateful day but it won't really i think get at
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the broader question of why does there seem to be an under estimation of the nature and scope of the threat we face in that broader region and why did the ambassador feel it was visibladd visible to travel outside of that compound that day. jon: congress will be taking a lock at this report as well, correct? >> they will indeed. that would have been the subject ever hearings featuring the secretary of state later in the week had it not been for her health issues. i presume at some point she will stand before the committees in the house and the senate to offer her account. but even those will just be pieces of information. ultimately decisions made in the white house and the executive branch in their internal deliberations tend to be shield from congress. all congress can do is cry foul and call for more information. jon: everyone is wondering about the timing of secretary clinton's unavailability. she will you expect testify at some point once she'se she's
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recovered from her injury. >> i think congress is within its rights to call her at any time. i have no reason to second-guess her health standing at the current moment. i presume that she will improve in her health. even after she is no longer secretary of state she still would be a key witness with real information, testifying the way general petraeus did also. ut what happened lot of here that are going to live on beyond her holding of that office. would you expt that you'll get some information when other incoming -- say if it is senator kerry who comes in as sec of state, will there be more information forthcoming? >> well, i would expect that he would have every interest inletting this be yesterday's business and to move onto focusing on what he sees as the priority guiding his new tenure as sec of state. i don't think he would want to draw too much attention to it. but he would want to at least
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operationally wrap-up what happened with embassy security and tpaoep other facilitie keep other facilities going in the future. jon: whoever succeeds hillary clinton is going to find the same operation in place, right? there are things that clearly need to be fixed. >> operational things that need to be fixed. there are things in conjunction with the military to insure there are rescue openings readily available sudden con sin gent sees present themselves. there are policy decisions, what is this enemy, what is its nature, how much of a threat does it pose. are we telling the truth to ourselves about the status of terrorism and islamism today? >> steven, thank you. jenna: breaking news out of kansas where an armed standoff accused of killing two police officers has just ended. dramatic details ahead. plus we remember the heros in newtown, how their actions saved countless lives.
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tori's life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. send your love to the rescue. donate today. jenna: welcome back, everyone. we have brand new stories coming up next hour. south carolina's governor expected to name republican representative tim scott to replace jim demint. he would be the first african-american gop senator since 1979. lawmakers are looking how much the northeast needs to rebuild after superstorm sandy. why the $60 billion price tag is being questioned by some. new violence in syria's government. the latest target of military airstrikes coming up next hour. jon: president obama leading the nation in healing after the connecticut school massacre saying friday was the most difficult day of his presidency. meeting with families of victims before attending an interfaith service where he
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ended the speech slowly reading the first names of 20 children that were killed while cries and sobs filled the room. kelly wright is live at white house the peel of newtown obviously still in a state of shock, kelly. did the president's appearance help ease their pain? >> reporter: jon, i would say many lawmakers agree in fact the president's there did bring some easing of the pain, some comfort to the families that are still dealing with this tragedy. the commander in chief was a parent in chief as he visited each family. posing in some pictures with those who asked. as he spoke to the community the president used scripture, prayer, and spoke with words of comfort, hope, and resolve. >> in the coming weeks i will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens from law enforcement to mental health professionals, to parents and educators in an effort aimed at preventing more
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tragedies like this. >> reporter: the president also asked everyone in the room and of course to the broader audience which would be the nation that watched, if ask yourselves this question. have we done enough to, to safeguard our children from any harm? and then, if you're really honest about it, he went on to say, you would have to say no. that enough has not been done. that is why he is going to take any meaningful action he can to curb this type of violence. jon: what about on capitol hill? what are lawmakers saying? what kind of meaningful action do they want to take? >> well the dialogue already has begun. there are a quite a few republican and democrat lawmakers coming out saying something has to be done. west virgina senator joe manchin, who is a democrat who is also a avid hunter, owns a gun, lifelong member of the national rifle association, says it is time to have meaningful discussions about this, about enacting some reasonable gun control aspects of who gets a gun,
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who is required to have it. and then you have senator joe lieberman of connecticut who says it is time now to have a meaningful dialogue, if you take a measure to put it through, if it saves one child's life it will be worth it. >> we've got to bring everybody to the table including the gun manufacturers and gun rights groups and entertainment industry and just regular people and talk about this, not as us against them but this is our national problem. we've got the ability to, at least make sure that fewer people, fewer children hopefully never again children like this, will be killed in one of these events. >> reporter: jon, here at the white house the president is willing obviously to have the dialogue. that is what he will be pushing for. in addition to that, what he said yesterday it is time for these kinds of tragedies to stop. the country can't afford to have it anymore. he wanted to say, i'm quoting here, we can't accept events like this as
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routine. jon: i think we all can agree with that. kelly wright at the white house. thank you. jenna: amidst stories of immense sadness are stories of inspiring act of her rowism, the principal of sandy hook elementary school, dawn hochsprung. she was coming out after meeting when she saw the shooter. telling colleagues to lock the door behind her and lunged at the gunman, stepping into the line of fire. mare hi sherlach died in a hail of bullets. her family said she died loving what she had to do. victoria soto died shielding her students from bullets. special ed teacher anne-marie murphy died trying to protect the students. her body was found dead in the classroom covering children who were also
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killed. first grade teacher caitlin roig, pulled a bookshelf and locked it. for reasons that can't be explained killer passed by her classroom. jon: new information out of kansas where an hours long standoff ends with the death of a man accused of murdering two police officers. heather now art has the latest. >> reporter: in early morning hours topeka police responded to a shooting that took the lives of their own police officers. police surrounded the house in nearly two hour standoff when shots were fired. this morning our local fox affiliate that the suspects in the officers killings, 22-year-old, david evidence ward. toscarino who has a criminal record is dead. when he tried to leave the house, officers fired shots that killed him. this started 6 p.m. sunday
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night. police responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle outside the grocery store. three officers arrived at the scene. 50-year-old, david gogian and 29-year-old-year-old jeff atherly, approached the car containing the him and other passengers, that's when shots were fired killing the officers. >> always sad when officer getting injured. we protect people. when an officer is hurt, that is hard thing. >> reporter: gogian was supervisor with the topeka police department. he served the community eight years when he got out of the military. atherly, was beginning his career in the department. he served a year and a half. officers are executing other search warrants in the area. they're not saying they're looking for other suspects at the time. police holding a press conference at 2:00 p.m. eastern time today. that's when we expect to learn more. we'll bring that to you. jon. jon: apparently there were other people in the car from
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which the shots originally came? >> reporter: that's right. they said they're not looking for anybody else which sounds cure us why. we'll look into that to see what they have to say. jon: thank you. heather nauert. jenna: investigators are seeking to learn more about adam lanza the murderer in the connecticut school massacre. they're pouring over evidence from two separate crime scenes. what investigators hope to find and what is a realistic expectation actually having any sort of answers in this case? calls for mass protest in egypt before the final phase of voting there. this after president morsi racked up new support in what some are calling his power grab. we'll have the live story ahead. [shouting]
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jenna: welcome back, everyone. we're awaiting a police update on the connecticut school massacre. officials told us earlier today they believe they have months of work ahead of them in this investigation as they try to figure out what led adam lanza to go on this
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deadly rampage. right now they're gathering evidence from two separate crime scenes including his home as well as the school which will remain closed indefinitely. >> we are holding both crime scenes, the school, and the secondary crime scene, indefinitely. we've seized it under search warrants and we're going to hold those locations until we have completed our work and we feel it is appropriate to let them go. so as not to read anything into that, it is common practice to do that, to hold onto the crime scene, as long as it is needed for investigatory purposes. jenna: joining us now the ceo of brosnan risk consultants and former nypd detective that investigated many crime scenes, pat, in your career. i want to start with a little news we got. one of our producers outside sandy hook elementary school seen a moving van come up to the school. looks like they're removing desks and chairs at this time. why would they be doing that now? >> it is part of an active
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and very complex crime scene. they making chairs and desks struggle by bullet fragments, part of the crime scene for analysis to outside lab. jenna: why would you remove it? why would you remove it to outside lab and not look at it in the crime scene as it is? >> well they have examined forsenically at the lab to maintain custody and control of the evidence. it would have to be a forensic stand alone lab. in other words, they look at tie it together at the crime scene but for forensic purposes in terms of developing and scientifically would be done externally at a third party lab. jenna: speaking of school. empty elementary school. no one is there. no victims are there. you're walking into this scene, pat. where do you even begin as an investigator? >> well, this obviously is the horror amongst horrors. we know that is well stooeshed. but inordinantly complex crime scene with many moving parts. there are factors beyond rye
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approach. we know how many shots were fired and victims. he left hundreds of bullets. each one has a story to tell. they want to examine those bullets going back from their birth, on the gunsmith's table to the december 14th at 9:30 a.m. critical. jenna: let me return to that point in a second because we just got this video in. you can see on the screen, these are huge moving vans as you mentioned, pat, to our viewers. you think some of these desks and chairs, potentially furniture coming out of the classroom might contain bullets and that is what they will look at. go back to the critical st bullet can tell us. with so much material we believe that is there and officials have alluded to, how do you bring it together and what really is a realistic timeline for any sort of answers that it could provide? >> well to start the last question a timeline is impossible to speculate. inordinantly complex case. he fired hundreds of bullets. that alone is very unusual
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and compounds the tragedy exponentially. but the fact is each one of those bullets, each and everyone is stand alone piece of evidentiary material. has to be forsenically analyzed. tested against rivalling of bullets, rifling of weapons, and has to be research when it came to birth, when that bullet came to life until the bullet was used on the 14th. there may be other shootings. jenna: how interesting. >> you have to always put the eye toward other collateral shootings. >> might have to keep your mind open at a time like this. >> precisely. same with weapons too, jenna. those weapons have to be looked at very closely when they left the gunsmith's table until they --. jenna: talking a lot about friendsic evidence. one of the things paul vance brought up as well during the news conference the interviewing of witnesses and one of the things he said they will be interviewing children. >> yes. jenna: how do you do that, pat? >> with extraordinary delicacy, extreme
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sensitivity. very, very, slowly in the presence of the parents and with highly, highly skilled, specialized investigators who have conducted those levels of interviews before. jenna: do you start now, wait a couple weeks, when do you do it? >> i don't think they will start now. interestingly, my experience with interviewing very young children they are great witnesses both earwitnesses and eyewitnesses. >> really? >> because their recall is not influenced by baseline history of other events. they're brand new. they're young. they don't have a whole lot in their memories. it is very sad way to look at it but very pragmatic way to look at i. they make great witnesses. everything is unvarnished everything is true. no agenda with the small fries. they don't have an agenda. when tease out the information, delicately extract the information piece by piece it could be very vital data. jenna: underscores the sadness we feel about their lives.
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>> totally. jenna: how innocent they are. >> worst ever. jenna: pat, thank you. >> you're welcome. jenna: i appreciate you walking us through this as we try to wrap our mind around it somehow and search for answers somehow in this case. thank you again. >> you're welcome. jenna: jon? jon: right now in egypt tensions are on the rise as rival groups opposing the government are calling for mass protests tomorrow. this after supporters of president mohammed morsi, the muslim brotherhood, camed -- claimed victory in the first round of voting on morsi's draft constitution. this took place over the weekend. greg palkot streaming live from key owe egypt. greg? >> reporter: hey, jon, yeah. folks are a little bit on edge off voting over the weekend on the draft constitution. the results were closer than expected. the yes votes were 57%. no, 43%. the turnout was lower than usual. according to the opposition the vote was marched by
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maured by widespread irregularitis. opposition attacking opposition headquarters here in cairo. all that is prompting again by government critics who called for more protests on tuesday, in front. presidential palace in tahrir square behind me and up to the u.s. embassy. this is up to the second and final round of voting in rural areas of egypt on saturday for the constitution which is favored by egyptian president mohammed morsi and his muslim brotherhood party. critics say it is too islamist. defenders say it is necessary to preserve stability here in this country. analysts are saying they expect the constitution to be approved. while it can be modified afterwards and will pave the way to new elections for a new parliament, these latest results are seen as widening the divide between the two sides. that of course keeping very much alive the threat of yet more violence and of course the challenge of running
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this country. back to you. jon: we may be looking at more trouble there. greg palkot reporting live from cairo. thank you. jenna: the murders in newtown putting a new focus on treating mental health disorders. we'll talk a little about that coming up. the warning signs and also potentially what can be done to improve better access to care. that indeed part of the story we do not know now there are some questions that remain about adam lanza. new atrocities reportedly committed by the government in syria. we're joined by a reporter who had a first-hand look what is happening now. i always wait until the last minute. can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew.
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jenna: bring you out to florida now. this is a live shot of a rescue taking place. the helicopter just landed in this area in miami-dade county because there was a person reportedly stuck under a piece of equipment at a construction site. in fact we might have video
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of that for you as well. we don't know much about the incident. we know again this worker, and you're seeing this person wheeled out on a stretcher right now, apparently stuck under a piece of equipment. some initial reports say, it might be a steam roller. we'll work on some more information as we get it but right now a rescue underway in miami-dade county down in florida. the construction worker potentially being pulled out from underneath a steam roller. more information as we get it. jon: the tragedy in newtown reopens the debate what to do about mental illness in this country. sadly it seems to be a common denominator in so many mass shootings in recent years. the brother of shooter adam lanza reportedly telling police his brother suffers from asperger's syndrome and he had a personality disorder. james holmes the shooter in last summer's movie theater shooting was known to have psychological problems. jared loughner who tried to
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assassinate gabriel giffords had long been suspected of being unstable. when he was arrested and put on trial he was deemed at first unfit to stand trial. dr. lee vinocur, board certified physician, adjunct assistant professor at lieutenant state university medical school? shreveport. doctor, at times like this i think back to what my high school principal once taught me which the brain is organ like any other in the body. just like any other it can get sick. >> yeah. absolutely, it is just terrible that we have to have tragedies like this we have a mental health crisis today in the united states. in the last decade services have shrunk, psychiatric hospitals have closed. and the e.r. unfortunately knows very well that when there's a crisis related to mental health, everybody ends up in the e.r. and it backs up the e.r. because we have no place to send these people for more definitive
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help after the crisis. it is a big problem. jon: why is that, as a society we have closed down so many of these mental health centers and so forth? >> well, i think, you know, some of it is budget terri of course. i mean people are cutting and, hospitals dedicated strictly to psychiatric issues have just been squeezed like other hospitals and also, if you think about sometimes the people with, there's a stigma about mental health. the indigent, sometimes there is not a lot of insurance coverage for it and, it is just put a big squeeze on e.r.s that are the safety net now for mental health. they get backed up because there is no place to send people that need extended care. jon: the report that the gunman had asperger's syndrome, it is not a common condition but there are a lot of people in this country who have asperger's syndrome and they're not running out picking up guns
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and firing into classrooms? >> that is big issue. asperger's is on the autism spectrum. he was reported extremely shy. a lot of people with aspergers are very social but there is quirkiness to them when you start to talk to them. certainly asperger's is not predisposition to that. you don't even know, a patient comes into the e.r. with a mental health dying most sis or illness, you need to decide at the time are they a risk to themselves or others and you can never fully predict when something like this is going to happen, when someone is going to become violent, when they're going to snap. that's a big issue, but certainly if we dealt more preventatively, more outpatient therapy for mental health people, more inpatient beds for patients in crisis, so they don't get turned out on the street you would lessen the chances of some kind of violent snapping or some kind of
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violent incident. jon: so many lessons here still to be figured out. we're still in the early stages of doing that. obviously a lot of decisions need to be made. maybe some systems changed. dr. vinocur, thank you. >> my pleasure. jenna: a change of command in the senate. senator demint will be leaving and we're hearing now south carolina congressman tim scott is getting the nod to take his place, a historic move. we'll have the latest at the top of the hour. also we're awaiting a news conference in newtown, connecticut, where police will update us on the very latest in the investigation. we'll bring that to you live as soon as it starts top of the hour. ♪ . we've dided to put aside our rivalry. 'cause all our states are great. and now is when the gulf
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jenna: we're awaiting a news
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conference, hopefully some more information from police in newtown, connecticut. in the meantime, the first of two funerals are about to get underway. we're glad you're with us on this monday morning, i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. a dark shadow hangs over the normally joyful holiday season as two families prepare to bury tear children. their children. connecticut state police are about to give an update on the latest in their investigation. when they ten to the microphones, we will take you there live. plus, two funerals taking place today beginning about an hour from now. 6-year-old jack pinto, a new york giants fan, and noah posner, also 6, who liked to figure out how things work mechanically. what can you tell us about the status of the investigation?
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>> reporter: jon, noah was just born in 2006 as 16 of the victims were, and about an hour and a half ago, we got an update into the investigation into their murder. authorities are saying that before friday they had no contact with adam lanza. he was not a known criminal around newtown, connecticut. authorities are also saying that they are right now interviewing many, many witnesses including a lot of kids who escaped the elementary school on friday. we're told by the authorities that those interviews are going to be done delicately with their parents by their side. this is happening while major crimes detectives are working around the clock, 24-hour days, to to trace the weapons that were used back to the assembly line, all the way back. they want to know everywhere those weapons have been. they're also going to analyze hundreds of rounds of ammunition from multiple >> the weaponry every single facet of the weapons will be
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organized, looked at and examined for every kind of physical evidence. i alluded yesterday to the volume of rounds, for example, that, in fact, were seized or recovered. each singular round will be examined. >> reporter: and, jon, around here the focus is on all of the young victims like anna grace marquez green. she was 6 years old, and her parents are saying she never walked anywhere because her mode of transportation was dance. jon: unbelievable. so much sadness. so of the gunman's nuclear family, half of them are dead now. what have we learned about the family? >> reporter: jon, this morning we saw the divorce papers between, from a divorce a few years back between nancy and peter lanza. there really are no signs of bitterness in it. nancy got almost $290,000 in
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alimony this year, and they did have joint custody, but adam lanza lived with his mother nancy here in newtown. it's interesting, one of nancy's friends who i spoke to this morning told me that, in his opinion, he has a son with a similar disorder, with a similar -- he has a son who's autistic, and he said he used to bond with nancy lanza about the difficulties of raising a child with a disorder like that. and he said that he thinks that as a single mother she was not equipped to deal with his issues. listen to this. >> yeah. she was trying to bond, find ways to bond with him, and, you know, she told me that the guns, you know, she would take them shooting because that was of of a way that, you know, a single mom could, you know, relate to her son. and so she would take him, take him out shooting. >> reporter: we've been getting a lot of information, jon, from the authorities and
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from friends of the, of everyone involved x we do expect an update any minute now. jon: yeah. that update scheduled to begin, as you say, anytime now. peter doocy in newtown, thank you. jenna: it's unclear if sandy hook elementary will ever reopen o. town officials are considering a plan to send students to a former school building just miles away. we've heard that. also maybe they'll be sent to another school district. it could be months before the school is released back to the district. >> we are holding both crime scenes, the school and the second dare crime scene -- secondary crime scene, indefinitely. we've seized it under search warrants, and we're going to hold those until we feel it's appropriate to let them go. so as not to read anything into that, it is common practice to do that, to hold on to the crime
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scene as long as it's needed for investigatory purposes. jenna: brian was el has treated children after trauma which is, i'm sure, an incredible task, dr. russell. in this type of situation for that children that either have witnessed this event or were at the school at the time, what's in their best interests? is it to return to the building where this took place? what's best for them? >> well, you know, jenna, we talked about a lot of these same things after kohl m wine, and it's really sort of premature to be talking about the long-term future of that building. obviously, in the short term it is a crime scene, and it's going to need to be kept that way for evidentiary gathering purposes. i think it's important to keep in mind that lots of kids around the country, even those indirectly affected by the coverage of this, may need some attention. but it's hard to generalize the kind. kids are very resilient, that's the good news, and it's hard to say exactly how each individual
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kid is going to be affected, because it's a very individualized thing. some general tips for participants would be to listen to -- for parents would be to listen to their kids. kids may not have been as affected as a parent may assume, and they can minimize the further effects by not having this all over the tv on their house all day long, to validate whatever feelings the kids are having about it and reassure them. this threatens kids' sense that their world with predictable and safe and secure and stable. you could refocus your kids off of the gory details and on to the positive aspects like the heroism of the first responders and some of the staff there. and then you can take some action like maybe take your kids with you if you give blood, or make some christmas cookies and take them to the first responders in your areas that the adults, the good guys are back in charge. and if none of that seems to be working, seek out a mental health professional in your community. that's what they're there for.
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jenna: so many of us care about this community now and want to help in any way that we can. for the children there, i know we don't want to think too long term, but how important is it for them to stay together, to not be split up? because they're going to have to return to school eventually, and probably in not too distant future that they're going to have to return the to school. so what would be your suggestion there? >> well, you know, you make a great point. not everybody needs to run straight to psychotherapy after a trauma, but what virtually everybody needs is a social support system. and for these kids, their fellow students who went through this with them, are sort of natural social support system. so i would say that first and foremost the important thing is that each and every one of those kids has a social support system. and to the extent that it can include each other, i think that that's probably on balance more of a benefit. but i don't think if one of those parents, for example, feels like they need to move out
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of that community, that that's somehow going to, you know, predispose their child to be damaged worse in the long run. jenna: you pick up on something really important there as well because so many of us right now, we're only a few days from this event, and we want answers, we want resolution, you want justice where there really isn't justice to be had. talk to us about that feeling and what we should be expecting in the short term, maybe what we should be expecting in the long term and how to maybe navigate some of our expectations. >> that's a great point. and let me just say that this was a horrifically-emotional event. and so what we're seeing is a lot of emotional responses. people saying, oh, we should tear down the school or, oh, we ought to limit everybody's gun rights across the country including all of the law-abiding americans. you know, these are emotional responses, they're understandable, but what i would say to people is what we need here if we're going to do the best we can at solving these
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difficult problems is reason. and emotion a lot of times is the enemy of reason. so i would say that over these holidays sit with the emotion a little bit, let the emotion pass, and then let's try to really reason these things out in the new year. jenna: makes me hear a little calm canner already hearing that, dr. russell, just to sit with it even as uncomfortable it is and how much we grieve for this community as well. dr. russell, great to have you with us again, we look forward to having you back. >> thank you. jon: some late-breaking news on the looming fiscal cliff. we are just getting word president obama and house speaker john boehner are meeting at the white house. this as new details are coming to light about a possible deal with negotiators reportedly finding common ground on both spending cuts and higher taxes as well. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel live on capitol hill. mike? >> reporter: well, jon, we understand that that white house meeting between president obama and speaker boehner wrapped up just moments ago.
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it lasted 45 minutes, and aides are saying we will not get a readout, but there certainly has been a flurry of activity on the fiscal cliff front. aides to speaker boehner say in a friday phone call to the president the speaker offered to extend the bush tax cuts for those making up to a million dollars so, therefore, those above a million dollars would pay slightly higher taxes in exchange for spending cuts and entitlement reform. let's take a look at the framework of a possible fiscal cliff deal. it includes $1 trillion in cuts, $1 trillion in new revenue. that would include an immediate down payment and then lawmakers working out details in the new year. possibly including raising the nation's debt limit, something the white house has badly wanted, extending unemployment insurance, the medicare doc fix, payroll tax cut and tax extenders. any debt limit increase would require cuts b in reforms of an amount greater than the increase, for the speaker putting more revenue in the form
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of higher rates on the table on millionaires was seen as significant. the president has been pushing for upper income americans to pay higher taxes. a leading house republican says he has faith in the speaker. >> i told john based on my knowledge of him and his commitment, i am prepared to support the agreement that he ultimately negotiates convinced it's the best we can get under the circumstance. >> reporter: so activity to try to find common ground and work out a fiscal cliff deal has clearly picked up. the president and speaker met thursday late in the day at the white house, they had a friday phone call and now a meeting earlier today just wrapping up a short time ago. jon? jon: mike emanuel at the capitol building for us right now, mike, thank you. jenna: continuing coverage of the school shooting in connecticut including a different angle for you, the way that you can help. there's certainly been an outpouring from around the country and around the world from people who want to get involved and help, and we have a
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great lists of resources so you can make sure your donation get toss the right place. we'd like to bring you to a breaking news story, do we have that of governor nikki haley? there she is. shall we listen in? nikki haley is announcing the replacement of outgoing republican senator jim demint. >> the heritage foundation is blessed. he will lift them up to an amazing new level. it's a foundation i have always had great respect for, and they could not have made a more perfect pick. in this decision and process that we went through, there is no replacing jim demint. there's no replacing him. there's no one that can fill his shoes, there's no one that can really carry on that torch. and i don't, i think that says a lot about him. i think it says a lot about how he has changed the face of south carolina and the way that we have a lot to be proud of. but i also think that this is a new day, and it is, um, with
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great pleasure that i am announcing, um, that i am appointing our next u.s. senator to be congressman tim scott. [applause] many people have asked what went into this decision process, and it was pretty simple. he understands the strength that we need to have in our business community as we continue to focus on jobs. he has shown that with his support of the ports and knowing that the deepening needs to be there, he's shown courage when he helped us with the fight against national labor relations board and the unions that tried to take boeing down. he has shown it with his fiscal representation and the fact that he knows the value of a dollar. he understands what every family and small business goes through, and he has stayed consistent to that.
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it also -- jenna: so this is the process in south carolina. the governor there announcing the replacement for senator jim demint and announcing that congressman scott is to become the senator for that state for the next several years, i believe until 2014, when he'll have to run for re-election. that will vacate his seat in the house. by the way, this will be the first african-american gop senator since 1979, and nikki haley referring in some ways there to the changing of the guard in the south carolina senate position. we'll bring you back there in just a moment, follow that announcement david drucker's going to be with us in just a quick second after a break to talk about what this means for congress and the path ahead in 2013. we'll be right back. even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh?
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jon: you saw it live here on fox, south carolina governor nikki haley just announcing her choice to replace republican senator jim demint. senator demint announced two weeks ago he will step town january 1st. republican congressman tim scott will take his place, becoming
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only the sixth african-american to hold a seat in the u.s. senate and the first african-american gop senator since 1979. let's talk about this historic move with david drucker, an associate politics editor for roll call. jim demint became popular, well known outside of south carolina as a conservative leader in the senate. a lot of people, a lot of conservatives disappointed that he is leaving that role. so who is the man who's replacing him? >> well, congressman tim scott was elected in 2010. he's one of the new sort of tea party freshmen, if you will. he was in longer going to be a freshman come the next congress, and i think that for conservatives who monitor voting records, they'll be very satisfied with tim scott. i think he's a little bit of a different, a type of politician than jim demint. i think that she's shown a lit -- he's shown a little bit more of a penchant to i don't want to say be an establishment
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player, but he did hold an elected leadership position in the house of representatives, and i think that he's a little bitless of an outsider -- bit less of an outsider type of politician than has been senator demint. jon: yeah, they are both tea party favorites. this guy, tim scott, has a compelling life story; raised by a single mother, he and his siblings, and said that he was in danger of dropping out of school when he got a job at a chick chick-fil-a franchise, and the manager there sort of took him under his wing. >> yeah, that's correct. he's got a very compelling story. it's not a bad thing for the republican party at a time when it's doing some soul searching and trying to make inroads or looking for how it can make inroads into ethnic minority voting populations. so having tim scott as a senator and any hundred of these guys can make news on any given day just because they're a senator is going to be, could be very
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helpful for the republican party. and tim scott, i had interviewed him in the past couple of and one of the things he told me that i was struck with is that it ebb -- the things were a lot harder to fix than he imagined, and i think he envisionses for himself a very long political career in washington d.c. and as a senator who should win election in 2014 to serve out the remainder of senator demint's term, given the type of state he comes from and his politics, he could have a very long and possibly bright future ahead of himself. jon: right. because we remember when roland burris took president obama's senate seat for two years, there was of a lot of controversy about that and, eventually, he said, okay, i'll just be a place holder, i'll fill the seat until the election, and then i'll get out. governor haley said she was looking for a guy who wants to keep the seat, wants to run again. >> that's correct. governor haley is up for re-election in 2014, i think she
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was looking for somebody who would reflect well on her and serve her well as a, as somebody who is joining her at the top of the ticket on the 2014 ballot. i also think that for conservatives in south carolina this is an appointment that's going to satisfy them and reflect well on her. she's not necessarily at home as well liked as she is outside south carolina, so this appointment politically was very important for her, and i think she did what she needed to do, and i think tim scott should make a lot of people happy in south carolina at least at this point. he comes from charleston, he's got strong ties to the business community there, he's also strong with the tea party conservative class. and so i think it was a very politically well-rounded pick, and he's like blg. and so if he does his job, if he transitions well to the role of senator which is a bit more statesmanlike than being just a member of the house, things could go quite well for him, and it'll reflect well on governor
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haley. jon: david drucker from "roll call," thank you. >> anytime, thank you. jon: tonight governor haley goes on the record with greta to talk about in this position to appoint senator tim scott to the seat. that is here at 10 p.m. on fox news channel. jenna: we've talked a lot about what it means to become energy independent, but what about the potential business of selling our energy resources overseas? we're going to take a closer look at that. also, a nation grieving this morning as many americans are asking what can we do to help the families how of newtown, connecticut. up next, we're going to tell you how you can make a difference. ♪ my doctor told me calcium
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jon: right now the nation in mourning as many americans send
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their prayers to the newtown, connecticut, community, many of them wondering how they can help grieving families. heather is at our breaking news desk, she has some information. >> reporter: hi, jon. so many of our viewers have asked how they can help the families affected by the shooting, so we've taken a lack atom of the -- a look at some of the groups. first, the united way of connecticut established the sandy hook support fund. this group will provide support services to families and to the community. they say that all donations from this fund will go directly to those families that have been affected. the american red cross is also setting up a family center in that area, they'll provide initial grief coming which is something, of course, the red cross did after the nep attacks and other tragedies. they have not set up a specific sandy fund, so doe nawtion -- donations will go to the group's general fund x. also the newtown
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family emergency services is making counseling available, they're also accepting donations that will go directly to victims' families. as families begin to hold funeral services, the newtown memorial fund is helping to pay those expenses. that group will work with the town eventually to help design and build a memorial to the victims. now finally, there's a memorial fund that's being set up for the family of this little girl, emily parker. she died in the shooting. friends of the family say that that family will need help with expenses that they hadn't previously planned for. the father of that little girl, robbie parker, spoke about his daughter over the weekend, and get this, jon, he extended prayers to the family of the man who took his little girl's life. he said this, quote: it's a horrific tragedy, and we want everybody to know that our hearts and prayers go out to them, and can that includes the shooter's family. other charities are being set up, and we will keep you posted on all that information, in the meantime go, to foxnews.com for all the latest information.
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jon: yeah. some very good information there. heather, thank you. ♪ jenna: well, some new developments in the national debate over clean energy today. the energy department is working on a new proposal they say that will maximize profits by exporting natural gas overseas. john roberts is live in atlanta with the details on this. hi, john. >> reporter: hey, jenna, good afternoon to you. we've talked about the so-called shale gas revolution, fracking. it has created so much abundant natural gas that prices have crashed through floor, and now the industry is looking to line its pockets with a little more cash by exporting it. in fact, the u.s. federal government has got 15 applications to build huge terminals to export that gas to nonfree trade agreement countries, and all this has created some interesting bed fellows, first of all of, the white house on the same page as the industry after a report said
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exporting natural gas would be good for the economy. we have people like senator ron wyden, congressman ed markey of massachusetts all lining up in opposition along with the dow chemical corporation. these three arguing that exports could raise the price of natural gas domestically and hurt industries like dow that use an awful lot of it. here's what the ceo said about that. he said, quote: the report, the department of energy report, offers the baf ling conclusion that the u.s. would be better off using its domestic natural gas advantage to fuel growth and jobs in other regions versus strengthening the u.s. economy ask through manufacturing and benefiting consumers with lower energy costs. that brought this reaction from the oil and gas industry. >> what's goose is good for the gander. if the chemical industry wants the free market to work so they can produce product and export it, we should apply the same standard to the natural gas and oil industry. >> reporter: so how much natural gas do we actually have? well, according to the industry,
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about 900 years -- 100 years' worth, so much so that in the u.s. could become energy self-sufficient within the next few years. the current price of match algas is about $3.43 per million btu. according to the department of energy report, exporting natural gas could raise that price by more than a dollar over the next five years which, jenna, industry says it just doesn't want to see happen. jenna: all right. we'll continue to watch that story, john. thank you. jon: another political battle shaping up on capitol hill right now over emergency funds meant to help in the recovery effort after superstorm sandy. why some lawmakers are calling the $60 billion price tag absurdly high. and it seems every day we're getting reports of escalating violence in syria, but it's often difficult to get firsthand information. straight ahead, we'll talk with a freelance journalist who just returned from the war zone.
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jenna: welcome back, everyone. we're awaiting a few live events we to tell you about. at the left of your screen is newtown, connecticut. we're awaiting another statement from lieutenant paul vance who has been briefing the press every few hours about the latest in the investigation on the sandy hook elementary school and the murders there that happened on friday. we'll bring you there when he steps to the microphone. on the right of your screen is the press briefing room in the white house. we expect jay carney to step to the podium. at any moment we expect to
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get latest news from him on the fiscal cliff negotiations, meeting between the president and john bain are and as well as any statements to what transpired in keck cut. we'll bring you to either location live when we see anyone step to the podium and to bring you the news. we turn to capitol hill now. another big week that happened over last few weeks is superstorm sandy. there is new questions about the $60 billion spending bill aimed at helping communities devastated by the storm. some lawmakers are slamming pet projects tacked onto the bill, they call it, those pet projects saying they have little to do with the storm and don't like the price tag. doug mckelway is live in washington with more on this. doug what is this all about? >> reporter: the senate is expected to take up the supplemental spending bill at 2:00 p.m. and we expect to hear some republican opposition as you said. with democrats in control and nature of the hardship in new york and new jersey and pressure put on lawmaker by home state governors
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there is little doubt of its passage. >> this is a tremendous need for the state. we spoke about the scale of the damage. which is just devastating. people are still reeling from this trauma. and new york needs help and new york has been there for other parts of the country when they have needed help and that's what we're asking for the same today. >> reporter: it's a different story in the house where republicans indicated that fema has enough money in reserves to last through the springtime. also in the house republicans concerned with out of control spending asked any supplemental spending bill for hurricane sandy repair offset with spending cuts that drawn the ire of democratic lawmakers in both houses. >> we talked a little bit about the political difficulties of getting this done. we know it is not going to be easy. >> reporter: critics of the $60 billion price tag say that president obama spending request is another case of throwing money willy-nilly at a problem without proper accounting.
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matt mayor of the heritage foundation wrote he will exploit loopholes in the budget control act that allow this new spending above existing limits. in an era of chronic trillion dollar deficits this is an act of willful fence. they will need seven republican votes in the senate to move this. it is unclear how they will reconcile the difference. jenna: doug, keep us updated. jon: we'll take you overseas to the civil war in syria rages on in the capital damascus after a government airstrike hits the largest palestinian refugee camp there. the attack killing at least eight people, sparking a massive new exodus of refugees. leland vittert live from our middle east bureau in jerusalem. leland? >> reporter: jon, the syrian government claims that refugee camp was used by the opposition and rebels to stage attacks from. that's what we're seeing inside of syria right now. this is insurgency civil
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war. the rebels are among the people. that's why you're having these large-scale artillery attacks and air attacks on civilian population. the results of those could be catastrophic. and caused a number of casualties in the refugee camp and other places creating this exodus of syrian civilians. the death toll in syria well above 40,000. over a million people are displaced. hundreds of thousands have fled outside of their country but it comes at an interesting time here as the syrian rebels are beginning to gain what appears to be a little bit of the upper hand in this battle. the noose is tightening around damascus. the fighting is moving from the outlying country areas in towards the capital and in towards the larger cities. the rebels are bringing the fight to the government rather than the government being able to go after the rebels. the rebels are becoming increasingly better armed. video out of syria certainly shows that. their attacks are better
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coordinated. their attacks are more successful. that may be one of the reasons the syrian vice president just said in the past couple days he doesn't think they can actually beat the syrian rebels as the government. that may be the first sign the syrian regime is willing to negotiate. jon? jon: that would be amazing. leland vittert reporting live. thank you. jenna: normally when we talk about syria we have to offer a disclaimer to be responsible junenalists when we show video from syria it is amateur video and don't have a clear source. we today do. we have video from a freelance journalist, christie wilcox, who spent three months traveling through syria to get a look at the civil war. she recently returned to the united states and joins us live from los angeles. christie, tell us when and how you decided to travel to syria? >> well, you know, it was a long process, a long decision in the making. several other people, i'm a big fan of traveling internationally and
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unfortunately there's a lot of chaos going on in syria right now and i believed that their story needed to be told. so that was a main reason for me going overcease. jenna: leland mentioned an attack on a refugee camp. you spent time videotaping refugees in the area. we have some of video. can you tell us a little bit about that? >> yeah. i spent a lot of time in the refugee camp just over the syrian border. when i was there in august there was really nothing there. in the most recent months, you're seeing thousands of refugees, internally displaced people coming from inside syria out to these refugee camps because they don't have electricity. they don't have food. they don't have water. so they're trying to get fed. they're trying to find safety. some of the issues that you're going to see in the refugee camp, especially looking at the bombardments is, you know, the, with the
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no-fly zone not being accessible there, they're going and they're bombing some of these tents. so when you have thousands of people coming into the refugee camp with no place to stay, they're forced to go back into the population as well. jenna: one of the other video items that we have, video clips that you shot brings us outside of aleppo. that is a city we talked a lot about and the back and forth with rebel forces there, who we call the rebel forces, as well as the government. tell us a little bit about your experience there and what your sense is of the quote, unquote rebels that are fighting this war? >> well it was a really interesting community. the community is albab. it sits right outside of aleppo. when it was liberated it was around the beginning of the ramadan. they bombed a hospital known for kid any transplants that sits up on the hill. what they're trying to do is create a little normalcy out
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of living an abnormal life. the video you're seeing here is the hospital that has been bombed. what they did, they took the people in this hospital and created kind of a makeshift area inside some of the mosques where they would take, you know, the opposition fighters. they would take civilians who have been injured and they would put them in there and, you know, at times hopefully they have enough medical staff, enough treatment facilities inside these, these facilities, makeshift facilities that they have actually developed. jenna: we're showing some of that footage as well. final video you brought us, again we're so grateful to get some of your insights on this. just on friday we learned there was a decision made some nato troops including american troops will be sent to the border between turkey and syria as well as patriot missiles. that is where you spent a lot of your time. tell us about the border. how vulnerable is it? what will these troops confront? >> well, you know, at this point i think it's just the right thing for the american
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government to do. i mean we've seen so much bombardment. when i was on the border, this video you're seeing is where the original spillover was starting to take place. this in the place where the rebels are gearing up to fight against the syrian government and the people were really scared, you know, the town in where the spillover was happening, the syrian government was hitting them very, very hard and it was leaking over to the town next to it in turkey. so, you know, it is only right for them to be able to defend themselves. i mean, i think the one thing that turkey did really well was they stepped up right off the bat and they said, this is what is acceptable and this is what is not acceptable, which is the reason why the regime backed off from the get-go. that's what we need to continue to do is to support our allies. jenna: very interesting perspective for us today, christie. thanks so much for joining
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us and share your video. we look forward to having you back. appreciate it very much. >> thanks, jenna, let's hope they get that war over with soon. an overseas company faces american justice, found liable for causing pollution in the united states. we'll talk about the ramifications and show you where this is happening. >> still ahead the investigation into the connecticut school shootings picking up speed as we learn new details about the gunman and his family life.
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jenna: out to newtown, connecticut, and the latest press briefing. let's go ahead and listen in. >> we'll maintain security of that facility indefinitely. in doing so we're going to, at this time, allow the school system to move the furniture to the next location, the building that is going to be utilized to continue the education of the children, k-4. that information will come from the board of education and the school superintendent as appropriate on their website.
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we are still guarding and we'll still continue to guard both scenes as crime scenes as we've indicated this morning. again, that will, that will go on indefinitely. regarding funeral services, as you know they're being planned and publicized by the families at funeral homes. a couple things we want to restate. each family has liaison trooper that will maintain contact and be with them. in addition newtown and state police and surrounding police departments are planning assistance to each funeral service, so it goes unscathed. i have to ask and plead, literally the word is plead, families are grieving. many of the families have asked that to please afford them their privacy as they go through this terrible, terrible tragedy that they're dealing with. i've been asked, the lieutenant with me, has been asked to pass that on to you as clearly and concisely as possible.
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that is the best way i can do it. >> at this time i can take a couple of questions. we'll see if we can clear up anything. then i'm going to speak a little bit about our future get-togethers. >> [inaudible]. >> correct. going to ask me a hard question and i'm trying to recall. there were two phone calls. the question was, about the, there were two threats of violence. we can simply say they came in two separate phone calls against the same facility which was the church, the catholic church in town. two telephone calls received. again, as i stated before, those are criminal acts. those are acts being thoroughly and completely investigated and follow-up will be done by either state and or federal authorities relative to any threats of
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that nature that someone set forth. those are the, what i meant by the threats, okay? next please. >> how much training do you think the suspect had? are you aware or any indication or where he was practicing? >> certainly, i can't even begin to speculate. we simply don't have that information to provide to you. as i stated numerous times, we definitely, we definitely are peeling that onion back layer by layer. we'll know all that information, believe me when i tell you there is a team working on just that, working with atf and other federal authorities, state authorities and local authorities, to make sure that no stone is left unturned regarding that specific training, sir. >> -- remove the hard drive of the computer? that is making it difficult to recover anything? >> sir, i didn't indicate what evidence was, has been seized at any location.
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i don't know where that information came from but we did seize significant evidence at the residence. we are analyzing and will analyze. it is a very painstaking process in forensic science. it will take some time to do that. >> was the hard drive removed? >> we don't discuss evidence, sir. i'm sorry. we don't discuss evidence or its content and what it is. >> clarify a couple things. >> yes, sir. >> earlier two people were shot and survived. >> that's correct, sir. >> do you know where, what location at the schools? >> i can't. there were two people that were wound. and did survive, two adults, that is correct. they were wounded in the lower extremities. i do not know the location in the school. i can not answer that question. >> both woman? >> do you know how many students were in each classroom, how many survivors were in each classroom? >> no. >> no, i'm sorry, i don't. he is asking about do we have specific location of survivors and location of
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students and faculty and staff and i don't have that, i'm sorry. yes, ma'am? >> can you identify the adults yet. >> no, we have not yet. they are considered witnesses and we do not identify witnesses. yes, ma'am. >> indicates some of that electronic evidence was destroyed or unavailable. will you be working with internet companies like -- [inaudible] >> good questions and good way to ask it. i can only tell you we seized evidence. if, if there is computer evidence and i strongly say that if, we do have a computer crimes team at our state forensic laboratory that are experts retrieving any type of electronic evidence and data. i will leave that there, please. >> -- schools locked down earlier today? >> those are handled by local authorities. two lockdowns in surrounding communities have been cleared. yes? >> can you tell us alleged rifle bushmaster rifle -- [inaudible]
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>> i can not tell you that because i do not know. as i said, this morning, that weapon, from the day it was built to the day we seized it, we'll look at every aspect of it from stem to stern, where it's been, who's had it and all the clips, the ammunition, everything to do with all the ammunition. >> just follow up to that. a lot of people watching at home say, there is no mystery here anymore. there is so much effort being put into the investigation. they might say, it will never be justice. what is -- [inaudible] >> the answers are for the poor victims, families, people of connecticut that need to know and see a clear picture exactly what happened here. as i said many times, there are many people, including first-responders, including town residents, including people right in this audience that have broken hearts over this and we're going to do everything that it takes to insure that we uncover every bit of evidence, that we examine every facet of it. that we conduct as many
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interviews with everyone that we need to do to paint a clear picture as to exactly how and why this tragedy occurred. yes, ma'am? >> can you clarify that the mother was shot with a .22 caliber rifle and there were other guns in the house? >> i can't answer that again, ma'am anything seized in the house would be evidence. as far as the wound that the victim suffered, the medical examiner was very clear, it was multiple gunshot wounds. that's as far as we went with that description. one more question, yes, sir. >> can you speak anymore to -- [inaudible] >> there was no connection between the shooter and the school according to the school authorities here in newtown. >> none at all? >> according to the school authorities in newtown. >> can you answer a question about he had so much weaponry and heard about a lockdown of a school nearby today? >> we addressed that before and i will just restate that. there was, anything whatsoever to do with school security anywhere within our state, we're obviously all on the edge, we're all on
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edge, anything that is suspicious, anything that even remotely appears to be a lack of security or breach of security, any educational institution in connecticut and i'm sure in surrounding states and across the country will be treated, very, very seriously. there was a report this morning where there was suspicious individual in close proximity to one of the schools. the local police department responded, investigated and cleared the matter. it was not a threat, but in doing so they did put nearby schools in lockdown, simply as a precaution. i do know across the state, the governor and education commissioner and local authorities and local officials are putting a little bit of extra security. we're supporting the educational system throughout the state of connecticut. we're certainly, as you well know, the teachers are well-trained. the faculty are well-trained, all the personnel in the school are well-trained. they practice for fire drills, for emergencies and belief me the blanket of public security will be strict in the state of
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connecticut. what i would like to say today, this is going to be our last press gathering today. we have come to a point in this investigation, yes, we are still working but i don't want to keep you here, want to keep coming up and trying to give you information if we have no new information to give you. what we're going to do, i handed out a slip that gives you information. anything new is going to be posted on our website. all press releases, all press announcements will be posted on our website. if there were anything thatupteg this investigation and we needed to hold a press conference and it would have to be something significant, we'll give you ample time to gather at a central location and provide that between the lieutenant from newtown and myself. so i again, am imploring you to please give the families privacy as they go through this very devastating period of time in their life. we will stay in contact. if you have specific questions we can address
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them via e-mail, that would be smartest and best way. we'll be more than happy to address that. >> since might be a long time to get a chance to talk to you. >> yes, sir. >> i'm wondering, this is key question we ask you all the time. you keep referring to, can you give people guidance and people who might be wondering how long it might take and why it takes so long and how long will we have to wait before you come up and tell just so we have some idea? hundreds of interviews, filing each piece of evidence on every trail that it guess it will take substantial amount of time, i know, we know as investigators, that the people, connecticut, people of this town of newtown, want to know what happened. we're going to do that. we're going to provide them any information at all
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information. we'll paint a crystal clear picture as much as we possibly can. but it is a slow process. it is not something just done in 60 minutes as you see on tv. we'll keep the public informed. we will make sure that there is anything that is emergent, that we get it out immediately and it's through you folks. i want to thank you for everything that you've done. you folks have been very professional and we do definitely appreciate that. all right. thank you jenna: a few things we should review with you, that came to light based on what he told us. there should be a video hour ago of large moving trucks that came to the elementary school. we weren't sure why they were there. were they collecting evidence, was something else
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going on? the lieutenant telling us some of that furniture is being moved. potentially some of these students from sandy hook, kindergarten through fourth graders may you were return to a building somewhere in the area. they will set up a makeshift school, if you will, and perhaps that is where some of the furniture is going. jon: hard to imagine they would reopen that school. certainly not in its current configuration. that is decision to be left down the road after columbine. they made some changes in the physical facilities there. did a lot of remodeling but this is an elementary school where such horrors have taken place, there are many big decisions ahead. jenna: we should mention there will be armed guards on that property. it is a crime scene

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